Very unusual message this evening. You know, just living teaches
us some things. Just living does. Hopefully it
does. But look what the wise man said
in this proverb. Boast not thyself of tomorrow. For thou knowest not what a day
they bring forth. Boast not, don't brag, don't
boast, of all you're going to do tomorrow. I don't know how many, just recently
somebody told me all that they was going to start doing and
how they was going to get this done, that done, and another
thing done. Boasting about what all is going to get accomplished.
Haven't got any of it done. And also don't boast yourself
of tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring forth. There's two things I know that's
common to human nature. One of them is to worry about
tomorrow. That's common to human nature,
to worry about tomorrow. And another thing that's common
to human nature is to brag about tomorrow. Some even brag and
look forward to a whole year. And let me show you what I mean.
Look in Matthew 6 in verse 24 about it's common to human nature
to worry about tomorrow. Look in Matthew 6 with me, just
a minute. Matthew 6 in verse 25, excuse
me, Matthew 6, 25. That's why it says, boast not
thyself of tomorrow. It's common. It's common to human
nature to worry about tomorrow. But look what our Lord Jesus
Christ said here in verse 25 of Matthew 6. Now our Master's
speaking now. Not just anybody. That's the
words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore I say unto you, take
no thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall
drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on. Is not
the life more than what you eat, and your body more than what
you put on? Look at the fowls of the air,
look at the birds. They don't sow, they never ever
sow to seed. Neither do they reed, nor gather
in the barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Oh, how
he takes care of them. Are you not much better than
they? Which of you, which one of you, Peter, James, John, Donny
Bell, anybody in this building, which of you by taking thoughts
can add one cubit to his statue? That means make himself something
that he's not. That don't mean making yourself
big or anything, making yourself your stature in the sight of
men more than what it really is. Can any of us do that? Because we are what we are. And why take you thought for
what you're going to wear? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow. They don't work. They don't spin. And yet I say unto you that even
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore if God If God clothes the grass of the field, makes
that hay that we cut, makes those flowers that we enjoy so much,
which today is and tomorrow's cast into the oven, shall not
He much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take
no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink,
or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles and the heathens Go after, for your heavenly Father
knows that you have need of these things. But here, here, seek
ye first. This is the, this is the alpha,
this is our, this is the number one in spiritual arithmetic.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, His righteousness, and all
of these things shall be added unto you. Now this is where,
this is where the rubber hits the road for all of us. Take
no thought for the model. Don't get up, you know, don't
go to bed tonight, just absolutely worry yourself to death about
tomorrow. Don't take no thought for it, for tomorrow shall take
thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the
evil. There'll be enough evil tomorrow
coming your way without you getting up and trying to figure out what
to do about it. I don't know how many times I've
been asked over the years, well, you got a plan tomorrow? I said,
well, I may do this, I may do that, but generally the day takes
care of itself. Don't they? The days generally take care
of themselves. And whatever we plan, something always comes
up. Most of the time, the changes are planned somewhere down the
day. And that's one thing common to human nature, is to worry
about tomorrow. And another thing is to brag
about tomorrow. Look over in James with me, James
chapter 4. James didn't even brag about
tomorrow. And these are things that are common to human nature
and our Lord knows it. And He gives us words about these
things. He teaches us about these things.
And helps us to understand these things and trust Him and rest
in Him and let the days be His. Or if we just get up and say,
Lord, this is Your day. It belongs to You. It belongs
to You. I belong to You. Whatever you
have for me today, give it to me today and make me grateful,
make me thankful and please help me by your grace to take it as
you give it to me. If I have a day that's healthy,
productive and full of promise and labor and some accomplishment,
that's wonderful. If it's something that comes
along and messes up my start one thing and end up having to
do something else because that messed up and end up doing something
else, Take that too, it's from the Lord's hand. Oh Lord, it's
your day. And I'm yours, you just give
it to me the way you want me to have it. That's what a wonderful
way to live. That's what our Lord's teaching
us here. And he used birds. I watched a bunch of little sparrows
today. They would get down under this
little old bush and they'd just go round and round that bush
and just eat. They'd fly off and feed their babies. Robins
come down, pick up a bunch of worms, they'd fly over there
and feed their babies. All these trees flowering and the flowers
you know and them snowball bushes and the blue brothel looks like
it's snowing. And then they're gone. And if
the Lord dresses all them up and takes care of all them things,
how much will He take? Look how He has taken care of
us. He has taken, who has He taken better care of than me? Who's he taking better care of
than me? Now there's another thing about coming to human nature
is to brag about it. Look what he said here in James
chapter 4 and verse 13. Go to now ye that say. What he
means is that You know, you fellas just forget about this. Go do
something else. Go to, now you that say, today
or tomorrow, we will go into such and such a city and we'll
go there a year. We're going to go there a year
and buy and sell and get game. These fellas not even thinking
about tomorrow. They ain't looking a year. You
know, you've heard that old saying, don't count your chickens before
the eggs hatch. That's what these fellas doing.
Oh, I'm going to go out here a year ahead. Whereas you know
not what shall be on tomorrow. And he says, you know why you
don't know what it's going to be? What is your life? What is
your life? He said, it's a vapor. A vapor. I was riding to Murfreesboro
that day and I'd go through little patches of fog and my windows
would just fog up and I'd go right on through it and then
they'd clear up again. He said, that's what your life is. Whoop,
going through a vapor. Appears just a little time, then
vanishes away. And because that's what your
life is, David says, Oh Lord, make me to know my days. Teach
me wisdom and I'll understand my days. Oh Lord. And he says, for that you ought
to say, because your life is just a vapor. That's why you
ought to say, if the Lord will, if God's willing, if the sovereign
of this world is willing, we'll live. We'll live if He's willing that
we should live. And then if He's willing that
we should live and He let we live, then we'll do by the Lord's
will this or we'll do that. But now for you to rejoice in
your boasting, say, I'm going to go here, and I'm going to
go there, and I'm going to do all these things, all such rejoicing
is evil. And also it's common, beloved,
and the Scriptures are full of rebuke and reproofs of this worrying
and boasting. Boast not thyself of tomorrow,
for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Not one of us,
not one of us knows what's going to happen tomorrow. Not one of
us in this building knows what God will have for us tomorrow.
And I'll tell you a 24 hour day, you take a 24 hour day. Tomorrow
may be just another Monday. And we talk about just another
Monday, a rainy day, sunny day, cold day, snowy day, work day,
a Saturday, a rest day. And all we have are birthdays.
We have anniversary days. And all these days that we go
through, and then one day the phone rings. Maybe just another
Monday, maybe a rainy day. Maybe an old, cold, blue day
in February. It may be a day while you're
celebrating your birthday. Maybe on your anniversary, but
the phone rings. I've got news I need to tell
you. Sit down. Sit down. Before the
sheriff pulls up in your yard. And he gets out and he walks
slow to your door and he knocks on your door and said, is so
and so your son, so and so your daughter, is your husband this
and your wife that? The sheriff pulls up or a neighbor
drops by and says, oh, I just heard the office now. Joe got
up one morning. Wealthy man he got out of bed
one morning had teen children He had more cattle and more camels
and more asses that it is a richest man in the East Got up one morning
and before the day was out He absolutely had nothing left Can
you imagine the suffering? The grief, the pain, the agony
that that man felt. The scripture says that he sat
down in the dust in the potsherd and he never said a word for
seven days. That's how much grief he had.
That's how much sorrow he had. That's how much pain that man
went through. He sat there for seven days in
grief. Heartbroken, hurting, suffering. We want to thank Job was stoic
and he said, well, but he understood that was the Lord gave and the
Lord took away. But still, yeah, don't you think
he didn't grieve? And David, look over with me
in 2 Samuel. Look over with me in 2 Samuel.
David went through some of these things with his son Absalom. Look over in 2 Samuel 18 with
me just a minute. You know how Absalom wanted David's
throne and going to overthrow his own father. And then there come a time that
Absalom was slain, Absalom was killed, and Absalom died. And oh, Absalom, he was a horrible
man. He killed his brothers, tried
to take his father's throne, had a lot of men following him,
and then he died. But listen to this. Verse 19, Then said Ahimaz, the
son of Zadok, Let me now run and bear the king tidings, how
that the Lord hath avenged him of his enemies. The Lord, that's
what he says, the Lord took care of all the enemies of David.
And Joab said unto him, Thou shalt not bear tidings this day,
but thou shalt bear tidings another day. But this day thou shalt
bear no tidings, because the king's son is dead. Because the king's son is dead.
He said, you don't go tell that. He said, don't go now. And I'll
tell you, this is Absalom, beautiful boy, handsome man. Oh, what a
man he was. And I'll tell you, folk just,
they looked at Absalom and just swooned about him. A multitude
followed him. David had to go in to hide him
from his own son. Then Joab said to Cushi, go tell
the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed himself under
Joab and ran. Then said, Ahai, miss, the son
of Zadok, again and again to Joab, but howsoever, let me,
I pray thee, also run after Cushiah. And Joab said, Wherefore wilt
thou run, my son? You don't have nothing to say. But howsoever, said he, let me
run. And he said unto him, Run. Then
Hamas ran by the way of the plain and overran Cusha. David sat
between the two gates. And the watchman went up to the
roof over the gate of the wall, lifted up his eyes and looked.
And he said, a man's running alone by himself. David's fixing
to get some news now, I'm telling you. He didn't know what this
day was going to bring forth. And the watchman cried and told
the king. And the king said, if he be alone, there's tidings
in his mouth. And he came apace and drew near.
And the watchman said, Another man's running. And the watchman
called unto the porter and said, Behold, another man running along.
And the king said, He also bringeth tidings. And the watchman said,
Bethinketh the running of the foremost is the running of Ahimeaz,
the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good
man, cometh with good tidings. And Ahimeaz called and said unto
the king, All is well. When a man runs on his own, he
don't have the right message. All is well. Everything wasn't
well. Absalom was dead. David's son
was dead. David didn't know that, so when
Mias come running, said all's well. and fell down to the earth
upon his face before the king and said, Blessed be the Lord
thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their
hand against my Lord the king. And the king said, Is the young
man Absalom safe? And here's what happened. This
is what happens when a man is running when he's not sent. A
half man is running. When Joab sent the king's servants
to be thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I didn't know what
it was about. I just saw people in an uproar and I didn't have
a clue what was going on. And he turned aside, and then
Cushai came, and Cushai said, Tidings, my lord, the king. For
the Lord hath a visit this days of all them that rose up against
them. And the king said unto Cushai, Is the young man Absalom
safe? Kushai was the one in Joab's
hand. And Kushai answered him, the enemies of my Lord, the king,
and all rise up against thee to do the earth. Be as that young
man is. And the king was much moved and
went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went,
thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son Absalom, I would, God,
I have died for thee. Absalom, O my son, my son. Oh, he was grieved. We don't
know what a day is going to bring forth. We don't have any idea. But oh, I tell you, you know
what Proverbs 25, 25 says? Good news from a far country
as cool waters to a thirsty soul. But since we don't know what
a day may bring forth, and we may worry about it, we may boast
about it. But there are some things that we do know. We don't
know what a day brings forth, but I'll tell you some things
that we do know. I mean, there are some things we know. We know
God. And the best part about it is
that God knows us. I know them and He knows us,
but God knows us and we know Him. He said, Oh, let the Father
give to me. We were given to our Lord Jesus
Christ. And God said that He knew us. called us his own, chose us in
Christ before the world ever began. He talked about Abraham,
he says, when the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham
when he dwelt in Mesopotamia. And how do we know God? We know
God in Jesus Christ. This is things we know. We see
the glory of God in our Lord Jesus Christ. We see God's grace
in our Lord Jesus Christ. We see God's power in our Lord
Jesus Christ. We see God's salvation in our
Lord Jesus Christ. We see our approach and acceptability
accepted in the beloved through our Lord Jesus Christ. So we
know God and we know Him by sovereign grace. If it hadn't been for
sovereign grace, we would not know a thing in the world about
God. If anybody knows anything about it, we don't know what
a day will bring, but we know God. And by sovereign grace we know
God. When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and what? Called me by His grace. And He gave us this grace in
Christ before the world ever began. Thank God for sovereign
grace. Free grace. Powerful grace. Overwhelming grace. Grace that
saves. Grace that keeps. Grace that
will carry us all the way to glory. We know God. And I'll tell you something else
we know. We know ourselves. We really know ourselves. And
you know who we trust less than we do anybody? Ourselves. Oh my, have you ever thought,
boys, folks ever find out about me? Somebody said here a few days,
you know, a few months ago, said I'm going to go up there and
tell them about you. I'm going to let them folks really know what you're
like. I said surprise, surprise, surprise. They'll be surprised to find
out what an awful man I am. But I'll tell you, and I'm laughing
about that, but we know ourselves. We know that in ourselves there
dwelleth no good thing. We know that we dwell, we're
unclean, and we dwell in the midst of an unclean people. We
know that we're as Job. We abhor ourselves as we heard
and we repent in dust and ashes. We know, beloved, that we have
no strength People say, you know that, that, that, that, you know,
I have these strengths and then I don't have these, got these
strengths and this and that. But I'm telling you, me personally,
me personally, I don't have any strengths at all in myself. If
I have any strength, it comes from the Lord. If I have any
sense, the Lord gave it to me. We joke about not being able
to chew gum, walk at the same time. That's really the way we
are if it hadn't been for the grace of God. I'm serious about that. I know
we think, but I do know we have no strength. What strength do
you have? What wisdom do you have? What
abilities do you have? What gifts do you have? What
understanding do you have? What abilities do you have? What
enjoyments do you have? All of them come from the Lord.
Ain't you grateful for that? Huh? And oh, we know we have
no strength. We know the corruption, that
we have no righteousness of our own, none whatsoever. And if
God Himself don't give us the righteousness of Christ, there'll
be no help or no hope. I made a statement this morning,
got in the heat of the moment, and I made a statement. And it
is a wrong statement. I want to correct it right now.
I said that God imparts righteousness to us. I meant to say imputes
righteousness and counts us righteous. There ain't but one righteousness
whereby a man stands accepted before God, and that's in the
righteousness of Christ. Because there's not two righteousness
in this world. I don't have a righteousness
in myself and then have the righteousness of Christ. There's only one righteousness
a man has. Only one righteousness God accepts,
and that's the righteousness of Christ. And I have no righteousness
to bring before God, but the righteousness He provided for
me, and He provided for me in Christ. Did y'all, if y'all heard
that this morning, and it went over your head, I'm sorry, I
thought I better ought to correct that, because I do not believe
that. I just got to preaching, and something come out, and this
minute it went out of my mouth. I said, oh my, that don't...
I do not believe that, and I've told you all this before, I do
not believe that there's only one righteousness. We're made
for takers of the divine nature, I understand that. We're born
again by the incorruptible seed, the Word of God. We're made new
creatures in Christ, but there ain't but one righteousness whereby
we accept it, and that's in the Lord Jesus Christ, Him alone.
We ain't got no righteousness in ourselves to commend ourselves.
No righteous act we can do that calls God to do anything for
us. The only way God can look on me and you is because of Christ
and His righteousness put on our account and God looks at
us as if He looks at His own Son. And that's what, that's
the things we know. That's what we know. And I say
not only we know God, but we know how God saves us Him. Not
a whole lot of people know how God saves a sinner. But I know
you know and I know how God saves a sinner. We don't know what
a day will bring for us, but we know how God saves a sinner.
You know how He saves them? Look in Romans chapter 3, just
a minute. I know we go through this thing, but I'm telling you.
And I'll tell you one thing, the first thing that God saves
us by is by election. We're chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. And then that election's manifested
in God calling us and giving us the grace of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ. But look here in Romans chapter
3 and verse 24. Being justified freely by His
grace. That's the first way that we're
saved. That's the first way God saves a sinner. He justifies
a man and He justifies him without any cause being in that man.
Through the payment price, the redemption, the blood, the sacrifice
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And how do we know that he was
that redemption force? God set him forth. God set him
forth in the virgin. God set him forth when he was
12. God set him forth in his life. God set him forth on the
cross. God set him forth. to be a propitiation,
a mercy seed, a blood propitiation, an atoning victim, that through
faith in that blood that was shed, God declares how righteous
He is for the payment, the remission of the sins that are past all
the Old Testament saints through God forbearing them. And then
He goes on to say, to declare, this is what the Gospel did,
that we declare that we're justified freely by grace. Because God
sent forth Christ and because God made Him to be our redemption. And because of that He says,
I declare at this time His righteousness. That He was righteous to do this. That He might be just. How is
He just? He put our sins on Christ. Punished
Christ in our room. Punished Christ in our stead.
Made his soul an offering for sin. Made his blood to be the
payment price for our sin and our redemption. So God's just
to do that. And you know what? He'll justify
everyone that says, I am not bringing anything to you or coming
before you on any other basis than the Lord Jesus Christ, whom
you set forth. If it's the one you set forth,
that's what I want. We know how God does. So God
justifies us. Who see that condemneth is God
that justifies. Oh, bless His name. Look over
at 1 Corinthians 1.4 just a minute. You see, God saves us through
Christ, for Christ's sake, by the Lord Jesus Christ's person
and His work. Oh, that's what Paul says here.
You know, he says here in verse 4, I thank my God always on your
behalf. What for, Paul? For the grace
of God, which was given you by Jesus Christ. That's the first thing. He said,
I thank my God on your behalf. What are you so thankful for,
Paul? For the grace of God given you in Jesus Christ. Oh, bless his holy name. You
know, God, you know, and here's the thing. I'm going to, I'm
going to, you know, are you saved by Christ the person or are you
saved by the work of Christ? It's not the person that was
the person we trust because of who did the work. It's the person
who did the work. Now, if I do a work, it ain't
going to amount to much. That's why I have to have somebody
else to go around behind me or just go ahead and hire them to
start with and get it done right to start with. But our Lord Jesus
Christ, He fulfilled. He said, I finished the work
that you gave me to do. And so you see, we trust the
person who did the work. A lot of people say, I trust
the finished work of Christ. I trust Christ to finish the
work. And there's a world of difference
in that. I don't want to go into eternity trusting a work. I want
to go into eternity trusting a person. I don't want to stand before
God trusting a work. I want to stand before God and
the Lord Jesus Christ who loved me and gave himself for me. You know we sing, they sing that
song years ago. What's that old rugged cross?
And I'll go and lay my trophies down. We ain't got no trophies
to lay down. What kind of, what trophies do
we have? What trophy you gonna give to the Lord? What trophy
you got to offer? They may give you a trophy to
play baseball, basketball, football, bowling, baseball, every other
thing that you can think of, but that's one thing you will
not do and I won't either. That's not giving a trophy to
God. If we're just such a thing as
a trophy, we're trophies of God's blessing grace. And the angels
stand in wonder and amazement that God, that our Lord Jesus
Christ will come to this earth and die for such worms as us? When He came down here and was
on that cross and He said, I can call twelve legions of angels,
those angels were ready and willing to come and save Him. And they
look at us and they wonder, whoa, He went down there to save them? Worms! Dust! the sinner of the worst die and then he turns around and
God not only saves us by grace and then gives us the faith to
believe him and then blesses us as if the faith was ours to
start with he gives it to us and then rewards
it like it's something that we've always had oh that's what's talking
about salvation like that We know we don't know what a day
brings forth, but we know we know God we know how God saves
the sinner We know ourselves and we know we have a good hope
We know we have a good hope look with me over second Thessalonians
2 with me just a minute. We know we have a good hope Second
Thessalonians 2 13 You know A young man asked me this morning,
the morning he told me this morning, he says, you know, you've preached
to me for 30 years. And I said, well, has it done
any good? He said, oh, yes, yes. He said,
I trust Christ. Christ is my only hope. Christ
is the only hope I've got in this world. I don't have no confidence in
myself. Got big tears in his eyes. I
said, oh yes. And I said, well, if that's what, I said, that's
what we're preaching the gospel for, to make people stop, cease
from their own works and rest in Christ. And so he had a good
hope. A good hope. Oh, what a wonderful
thing to have a hope. to have a hope, good hope. Look
what he said here in verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, O beloved of the Lord. You know how many times that
phrase is used in the New Testament? Beloved of the Lord. Because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit, and belief of the truth were unto he called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
in that gospel, stand fast in these truths, stand fast in God's
electing grace, stand fast in the love that God loved you were
with when you were dead in trespasses and sins, and the traditions
which you've been taught, whether by the Word of God or our epistle. Now listen to this. Now our Lord
Jesus Christ Himself and God, even our Father, which hath loved
us and has given us an everlasting consolation, and listen to this,
and good hope through grace. I've read that for years and
years and years and it still just absolutely just makes my
heart soar. Makes my heart just soar. A good hope. Through grace. And who gave it
to you? Our Lord Jesus Christ himself.
And God our Father. Who loved us. Gave us this everlasting
consolation. And this good hope through grace.
Oh, we have such a good hope. You know why it's a good hope?
Because God's the author of it. Now the God of hope fill you
with joy and peace and believe. God gave us this blessed hope
you see. And not only that, but it's based
on God's word. My hope is not some pie in the
sky thing. My hope is not that I'll be saved
at the end. My hope, beloved, is based on
this word right here. confidence in what God said,
what God promised, that God will perform what He promised. He
calls those things as though they be not yet. And I tell you
what, He even said that not only were we justified, but He even
put glorified in the past tense. And so that's a good hope to
have everything said about you in the past tense. None of us don't look like it
now, but I tell you what, God ain't done with us yet. Oh, you
close your eyes here and wake up glorified. Oh my, and I tell you this good
hope is Christ living in me and me living in Christ. Christ in
you is the hope of glory. Oh joy and peace in believing
by the God of hope. And I tell you, if we live by
faith and we continue, beloved, it'll be because of this blessed
hope. Now I tell you, let me wind this
up with this right here. If we know God, if we know the
Lord Jesus Christ, if we know ourselves, and we know these
things that I've mentioned, Then let a day bring forth what
it will. Let a day bring forth what it
will. For we knew who holds the day. And every day we get up, we get
up looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. And we're not
looking at that temporal things, we're looking at eternal things.
And that's why I say, It don't make no difference what tomorrow
brings forth. We know God. We know Him in Jesus Christ.
We know Him by sovereign grace. We know ourselves. We know how
God saves the sinner. And we know we have a good hope.
So when whatever today brings forth, and it's going to bring
forth, sometimes it brings forth a pretty rough day. Pretty painful
days. Pretty dark days. But it also
brings a lot of bright days. A lot of good days. A lot of
joyful days. A lot of happy days. And if there are wonderful days,
we're going to bless the Lord for it. And if there are days
full of tears and sorrow and grief, we'll bless Him for that
too. Because it is the Lord. And whatever
day comes forth, we'll say, Lord, Your will be done. Amen. Amen. Oh, our gracious, gracious Father,
our Lord Jesus Christ, thank You for the truth, oh, blessed
be Your name, that we don't walk in trepidation in this world.
We walk with confidence in our God. We live on His promises. live by faith, live looking unto
our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of it.
And Lord, we're looking for that city whose builder and maker
is God, that place where you're not ashamed to be called our
God, even now. And oh, our Father, our Father,
let us take every day as you give it, and bless you for it,
rejoice in it, and find you to be our all in all. May we love
one another, pray for one another, encourage one another, and help
one another. If we can make another brother's
sister's day better and brighter, enable us to do that. And if
they have days where they have to weep, enable us to weep with
them. Lord, unite our hearts in our Lord Jesus Christ as only
you can. It's only you, Katie. Amen. Amen. Well, it's been a good
day. We'll go to bed tonight, and
if the Lord lets us wake up tomorrow, it'll be the Lord's day. Sunday's not the Lord's day.
Every day's His day, ain't it? Every day's His day. Good night,
and God bless you. See you Wednesday. Oh.